by Sarah Manasrah
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did Reem
named after the gazelle’s tenderness
know her naseeb
when she named her baby Maryam
born shortly after
her husband was murdered?
who three years later was broadcast
across the world burning alive
while her toddler daughter watched
paralyzed by the orange blaze?
Maryam, the only woman
with an entire surah
as her namesake
who begged in the throes
of childbirth to have died before
how toddler Maryam,
covered in third degree burns
staring vacantly and saying
“my body hurts”
pleaded for her mama
may Qu'ran 19:23-26
give her fresh gauze
in her worst moments
when she realizes
her mama will never return
“do not grieve
your Lord has provided a
stream at your feet”
the stream is all of our tears
and Maryam will never die
Editor’s glosses:
Reem: A traditional Arabic feminine name (ريم) meaning "baby deer" or "gazelle," symbolizing purity and tenderness in literature and poetry.
naseeb: destiny
surah: chapter.
Qu’ran 19:23 — And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, 'Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion, forgotten.’
The quotation in the penultimate stanza is from Surah Maryam 19:24-26 of the Qu’ran. It records the comforting words spoken to Maryam (Mary) during the painful and isolated birth of Jesus (Isa), reassuring her to find peace, drink from the stream, and shake the palm tree for fresh dates.
Sarah Manasrah is a proud girl mama, community organizer, writer, and full spectrum birth worker growing movements for transformative justice and community care. She's part of a Jewish-Muslim-Palestinian family, a descendant of refugees spanning six countries.
